Add the key events by hand

You are reading through the file and noting each fact as you find it: the date the contract was signed, the notice of breach, the meeting where things went wrong. Each one becomes an event on the chronology. Getting each event right as you add it saves a clean-up before the chronology goes out.

Two questions shape each event. How precisely does the source date it? And who will read the chronology? The description is for the reader; the note is for the team.

Add an event

1. Open the timeline and click Add event in the toolbar at the top. The + in the toolbar on the left does the same.

   

2. Write the Title. It is the only field you must fill in, so keep it short and factual: "Beta Holding A/S terminates the supply agreement".

3. Set the Date, and the Time if the time of day matters (a deadline at noon, the order of two emails on the same day). An event without a date shows "No date chosen" until you give it one.

4. Write the Description: what happened, in the words you want the reader to see.

5. Use the Note for the team's own thinking: "Check whether the notice period was 30 or 60 days". The PDF export leaves notes out unless you turn on Include notes.

   

6. Under People, click Add and pick who was involved, or type a new name to add them. Under Tags, click Add tags and tag the issue the event goes to. Both let you filter the chronology later.

7. Click Save.

When the source is vague about the date

Letters often say "in March 2023" or "during 2021". Click Special date options (the calendar icon beside End date) and choose how much of the date the event claims: D (Day + Month + Year), M (Month + Year) or Y (Year only). The chronology then shows only what the source supports, instead of a day nobody can prove.

If the date matters to the story but should not be shown on the event, tick Hide date under Appearance on the timeline.

Events that last a while

Negotiations, a notice period or a delay in delivery run from one date to another. Click End date under the date and set when it ended.

In the Relative view, Time range design sets how the period is drawn once it has an end date: with a line at each end, or as a bracket across the span.

Mark the turning points

In the Relative view, tick Milestone for the events the case turns on: the termination, the claim, the award. A milestone draws a solid line from the top of the timeline to the bottom, so the reader sees what came before and after it.

Tips from practice

• One event per fact, not per document. A letter that gives notice and also proposes a meeting date is two events; three letters about the same meeting are one event with three documents.
• Attach the source as you go. Open the event's Documents tab and add the document that proves it, while you still have it open. See link each event to its evidence.
• Write descriptions for the reader, notes for the team. Anything you would not want the client or the other side to read goes in the note.
• Tag early. Tagging an issue as you add each event is quicker than tagging a hundred events afterwards. See tag events by issue.

Setting up the timeline first? See start the chronology for a new dispute. With a large document set, build the chronology from the case documents instead.